Echo's Past: Broken Expectations
This is an early autobiography narrated by Future Echo. The main plot revolves around him being tormented by the beautiful and cold blooded Kouin, who taunts him for being poor, yet he still finds her irresistable. It details his early childhood and the first link of the chain that lead him down a life of suffering. (Note: To those who have read Great Expectations, this will brign back a few familiar elements) Part 1 My First Crime I was seven years old and living with my adoptive parents, John and Raika Uchiha, Raika who in fact shared the name of my future teammate who is now deceased, Raika Haruno. It was early in the morning so the sun was not shining upon me as I wept in the cemetery where my parents were buried, for you see, I was not nearly as hardened then as I am so unfortunate to be now. I was getting my already old and fake leather boots even dirtier, covered in mud at an insidious level. I gazed up towards the foggy skies, ever so empty in the marshy graveyard. As I sat still, my ears perked due to my constant cautiousness, I felt a hand wrap around my throat. I screamed, turning around to see a fairly muscled man who looked to be in his early fourties, looking down at me with eyes that had my murder already said in stone. I shook my head and closed my eyes, not wanting to believe this to be reality. But, it indeed was, for he lifted me until I was upside down, banging my head on a tombstone, barely light enough to preserve the innards of my skull. He breathed through his nostrils impatiently, scanning me with those same compelling eyes that I now despised. He finally spoke, ending the silence that began my fear. "Boy, you'd better give me one really good reason not to kill you." As tears streamed down my already damp face I perked my head to him, shrugging. "Well sir, if you're hungry or anything I could manage to fill you up." He narrowed his eyes. "Why should I trust 'yull' come back?" "Because sir, I will." He glared once more. "And you'd better not ring anyone with ya boy, or I swear I'll kill you." I looked at the apparent fugitive and nodded, backing up and running away. In about twenty minutes I reached the market district of the new Uchiha section of town, which was still extremely poor compared to the main cities of Konoha. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, which as many of you know would be very fast years later. Finally I reached the meat and bread shops, owned by some folk that I knew quite well. One of the women gossiping near by put her hands on her knees and smiled widely at me. "Good-day lil' Echo." "Thank you Miss." I said, red hot in nervousness as if she could read my mind and realize I was about to commit theft. I ran off, not wanting to have another run in. I entered the bakery/butchery to see that it had not opened yet. I looked out the front door to see that the street was relatively clear, not that anyone would hav esuspected em anyways, I was actually an extremely well behaved child at that time. I entered the back to see what was already set to take out, and found some packaged sausage and several loafs of bread. This, alogn with a bottle of refined wine that I found were several of the things that I took out the back door, speeding down the street so fast that I could barely manage the load I was carrying. To my surprise, I was stopped in the middle of the street my so called mother. "Good morning Miss Raika." Said I, my palms sweating with nervousness. "Boy, you better tell me what all of that food is for right now!" She said, scanning the quantitive amount that I was carrying. "Sorry Miss, I just saved up some money I've been collecting for a while now, and thought it might serve a good day to have a picnic." She unintentionally folded her lip in dismay, grunting and then shooing me away. As I ran towards the marshy cemetery I thought about Miss Raika and how it always seemed like she had something quite mean to say to me. John always told me that she was a good woman, just an angry one. Finally I reached th graveyard not to find the husky man. "Sir!" I shouted. "I have some food for you, I promise I didn't bring anybody, I promise sir." The man came out shivering from behind a group of trees, he snatched the food from my hands and began to gorge it i nsuch a manner, if I may say so, that rather disgusted me. He looked up every other second, scanning the area. It made me sick to know that he had to do such things, considering he was a fugitive. I coudl not conceive such a factor at my age, yet I still felt terrible for him. He patted my head and stood up, strectching. "You're a good boy son, thank you." I nodded and stood up as well. He immediately tunred around and limped off after he thought he heard a voice. I could vow that I heard him say that he wouldn't forget my knidness, then again I had already started running off back to my home, never wanting to deal with such a man again. ---- Dinner And An Invitation When I returned home later that evening my adoptive mother had just finished cooking dinner. John had entered from his blacksmithing shed and sat down as well. "Well Echo, did you have an adventure today?" Said John, smiling at me. "No sir." Said I, lying. "Not at all." "Well that's too bad buddy, that's too bad." Miss Raika rolled her eyes, scoffing. "The hell with his day, I've spent my whole day working for you two ingrates." John and I exchanged a glance of mutuality that indicated we both knew my sister was in a particularly fowl mood. We all three then began to eat in silence, enjoying our meal as we knew that we would soon be off to another hard day's work in the morning. I began to think about the fugitive that I had fed earlier and began to light up in nervousness. I began to sweat as I nibbled at my food, attemtping to avoid the glances of my two guardians. Miss Raika looked as if she was about to fume when our neighbor, who was teh town mailman, bursted through the door. "Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha! You won't believe it!" He blurted, panting and staring at me with wonder. "M-M...Miss...Senju, she requested your presence tomorrow morning to play and entertain her!" He almost shouted, pointing directly at me. John looked utterly flabergasted as he looked over at Miss Raika, waiting for her response, which of course she didn't hesitate to emit. "Of course he's going, Mrs. Senju is extremely wealthy." I sat in confusion, utterly oblivious to what was going on around me, and whenever John knidly asked me if I wished to go, I unfortunately nodded. However, this particular decision that I didn't think to be important at all, ended up being the primal reason that I am the demon I am now, this, my friends and readers, is why life is my curse. Please, please believe me when I tell you that if I had known the outcome, I would have never acknowledged Mrs. Senju's existance, and after this turning point, my destiny was written in cold, agonizing stone. ---- My Life Is Ruined It was in the morning and after I had eaten a quick breackfast and finished a few chores I trudged off to Mrs. Senju's house. As I walked along the streets I recollected what I knew about the old woman, that she was incredibly wealthy, never left her house, and had a foster child named Kouin. I wondered what this experience was going to be like, and before I knew it I had already reached the gate to her mansion. I knocked on the gate's door, not believing myself to be heard, but evidently the acoustics were a bit worse than I believed, and a lady met me at the door. "Good morning sir." She said cordially, beckoning me through a garden. I stared in wonder at my surroundings, a massive garden, even a brewery, all until we reached a dark stairway that led up to God knows where. She yet beckoned me to climb the large flight of stairs, so I did. When I reached the pinnacle of the stairs I saw what looked like a corpse sitting in a chair by a fire. My eyes widened in shock when I saw it to be very much alive, an old woman, Mrs. Senju. She was wearing a time decayed wedding gow, a pale yellow with age that sent shivers down my spine. She turned towards me and beckoned me nearer, so I approached slowly. "I suppose you must be Echo." She said expectantly. "Yes Miss Senju." I said, nodding. "Well then, what am I holding?" She said as she put her wrinkled hand over her heart. "Your heart, Miss." I said. She laughed a bit. " As if I had one anymore." I was confused at this statement, although I was quite mature for my age. I titled my head in curiosity and waited to see what she expected of me. She took a deep breath and beared a look that frightened me, her smile showing that she was greatly looking forward to something. "All right boy, call Kouin if you are ready." I had no idea who she was talkign about, yet I complied and shouted her name. Silence plagued the chambers until I saw candle light nearing us from the stairs. I squinted curiously to see what was approaching, and for a brief moment my unnaturally green eyes met a pair of deep, pool blue eyes. They were gorgeous, thought I, not used to seeing too many attractive things in my "parents"' silversmith shop. "Yes, Mrs. Senju." Said this Kouin in such a soft voice that would grow to melt my heart. Looking at the rest of her I could tell she was extremely beautiful, and my age. When Mrs. Senju saw that my wonder filled eyes had not left her foster child yet, she couldn't hold back a devious grin. Eventually she spoke intentively. "Kouin dear, you are to play cards with this boy for me." Kouin glanced at me with disgust before turning back to Mrs. Senju. "But Mrs. Senju, he is nothing but a mere common boy." She said as if I wasn't there. I was mortally perplexed in the sense that I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, growing up I was not exposed to the factors of class and wealth, innocence was stil lmine. But after this moment I took a new outlook on my life. A strained my ears when I saw Kouin approach Mrs. Senju after being beckoned. "Then break his heart, break it wide open my love." Mrs. Senju whispered. Kouin glared at me. "What do you play, boy?" She said in disgust, addressing me as boy although we were of the same age. "Straights." I said meekly. She disgruntfully sat down with me at the card table and we played, Mrs. Senju watching us in deep thought. My intellectuality at that time was extraordinary, as it is now, yet my mind was concerned with this whole new concept of commoners, so I lost. Once she had obtained all of my cards, she threw them down as if the card sthemselves were disgustign for having touched me. We played again, me of course losing form my lack of focus. Finally Mrs. Senju beckoned me and spoke. "So boy, what do you think of Kouin?" She said, a frightful grin on her face. "With due respect Mrs. Senju, I'd rather not speak of it." I said uneasily. She raised an eyebrow. "Whisper it into my ear so that I may know." She said greedily. Grr...to Be Continued Again, My Post WAs Partially Erased. Category:Articles marked as clear